The number of applications for the Portugal 2020 program “has doubled” in comparison to the previous Community Support Framework. “This is a sign that the country is recovering,” José Carlos Caldeira says. In an interview with “Vida Económica,” the president of the National Innovation Agency (ANI) points out, however, that if we are not able to retain and attract qualified human resources “we will have a hard time developing our companies and our innovation processes.”

ANI will take part in the ‘National Intellectual Property Meeting’, to be held at the Altis Belém Hotel, in Lisbon, on May 18.

‘Trademarks and Patents – Valorisation for growth’, is the theme of the event and Miguel Botelho Barbosa, member of the board at ANI, will contribute to the panel discussion on ‘Support for Intellectual Property in Portugal 2020’ sharing the experience of ANI supporting business innovation activities.

The meeting is being organised by AIPPI-Portugal together with ACPI (the Portuguese Association of Intellectual Property Consultants).

The Expresso newspaper in now publishing a special project focusing on EU funding under the Portugal 2020 programme.

ANI (The Portuguese National Innovation Agency) was invited to join the panel and contribute with insightful information to help companies make the most of currently available instruments.

ANI’s president, José Carlos Caldeira, summed up the aspects to be properly addressed when preparing projects and advised companies to use incentives in an integrated manner, to ensure that they cover the whole innovation cycle.

COTEC Portugal, in partnership with ANI, GPPQ, IAPMEI and Inova+, organizes in Lisbon, on October 15, a session called “Horizon 2020 and national incentives for R&D internationalization.”

The aim of the session is to raise the awareness of companies, especially SME, on the aspects to be taken into account when preparing proposals for Portugal 2020 and Horizon 2020; and to describe the financial incentives for preparing Horizon 2020 proposals.